Carpe Diem!
by Crystal104
Summary: The Weasley Twins and entorage hit their 3rd year. Mischief and puberty... not a good mix. (not my greatest fanfic... read some others)
1. Muggle Studies

"Muggle Studies?!" 3rd year George Weasley exclaimed, staring blankly at the paper in his hands. He blinked several times, testing his eye-sight. Nope! There were those two words clearly and neatly written on his schedule.  
  
"What?" mumbled Alicia as she shuffled through the other schedules to find her own.  
  
"They gave me Muggle Studies!" George said, relishing the slip of paper in front of her face. Alicia jumped.  
  
"So?" she asked, taking the paper from him and looking at it, but Fred showed up before he could answer.  
  
"Hey, I'm back! George, Filch washed off those little messages we left him last year in the bathroom!" Fred grumbled, wiping his hands on George's shirt. "And there's no paper towels."  
  
"Fred, do you have Muggle Studies?" George asked Fred, ignoring his brother.  
  
"Nope! And I pity the poor fool who does!" Fred chuckled at his own joke, sat down at the Gryffindor table and grabbed a bowl.  
  
"Oh, gee thanks!!" George practically fell down into the seat next to Fred, face in hands. "Why me..?" asked no one in particular just before Alicia gave a small squeal of joy. George looked at her through his fingers in front of his face.  
  
"Hey, I have it too! Muggle Studies!" Alicia proclaimed in a rather high pitched voice. She seemed excited. George starred. Usually he would have rolled his eyes but this was a crisis.  
  
"Oh, fabulous!!" George responded in his girly imitation. Alicia rolled her eyes and passed the schedules on to Lee Jordan, who had just arrived along with Angelina and Katie.  
  
"What's wrong, Fred?" asked a concerned Katie. Fred didn't answer for a moment and George looked up at Katie, and found lest to his surprise, she wasn't looking at his twin; she was looking at George.  
  
"Uuhh... I'm George," he snapped loudly at her, rolling his eyes and wondering what he'd been thinking last year when he'd signed up.  
  
"Well pfft, what's gotten your panties in a twist, honestly?" Katie sat down. George glared at her. "Don't look at me in that tone of voice! You're the one who's all grumpy!"  
  
"He has Muggle Studies... personally I don't see what's so bad about that," Alicia told Katie. Katie raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Well go cry a river, build a bridge, and get over it," she told him simply. George let it drop, he didn't feel like arguing with her. Katie often got on his nerves, the blonde thought she knew everything. George, instead, turned his focus to Fred, who was looking glumly ahead, chewing a bite of cereal.  
  
"And how about you, Fred?" Katie said "Fred" very carefully and slowly and George raised an eyebrow at her again.  
  
"Huh?" Fred came out of his trance upon hearing his name.  
  
"You look upset."  
  
"Oh.just thinking," Fred replied. The girls paused and exchanged comical looks and then burst out with snorts of laughter.  
  
"Did I hear what I thought I heard?" Lee asked as he folded his schedule into a paper airplane.  
  
"Fred Weasley!? Thinking?!" Angelina giggled.  
  
Fred cheeks reddened as he smiled rather impishly.  
  
Fred grinned. "What can I say? I'm getting wiser in my old age."  
  
Lee let out a short but loud, "Ha!"  
  
"So, who else has Muggle Studies?" George asked. No one said anything, except Alicia.  
  
"Me!" she sang joyously. Katie and Angelina shrugged and looked apologetic.  
  
Lee examined his own schedule. "Nope... divination."  
  
"Oh me too!" said Katie.  
  
"North Tower...where in Godric's name is THAT?" Lee asked no one in particular and scrunched up his face, apparently searching his memory.  
  
"I dunno, but we'd better get going ..." Katie said, grabbing her bag and bagel for the trip. Lee took one too, they said their goodbyes and were gone.  
  
"Does anyone else have Arith ... Arithmancy?" Angelina spelled out the word. Fred raised his hand and sighed.  
  
"Oh THAT sounds like fun," George said sarcastically. He took Fred's schedule and placed it next to his own, examining both of them.  
  
"Well, all our other classes are together..."  
  
"Yeah, but it's not the same, man," Fred sighed. George sighed and nodded.  
  
"Fred, we need to get going," Angelina urged. Fred sighed and gave a weak grin, grabbing his bag, which had fallen off the seat next to him and under the table.  
  
"See ya later." George said to him. Fred waved over his shoulder, slumped and followed Angelina. George watched him go.  
  
Alicia broke the silence. "Shall we get going then?"  
  
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It was bound to happen one day. I thought we'd made sure our schedules were the same though! George glumly thought to himself as he and Alicia made their way through the corridor towards Muggle Studies.  
  
Alicia on the other hand was as happy as a monkey in a jelly jar. She was humming all the while, a certain pleasant spring in her step.  
  
Annoyed, George asked her: "Why are you so pleased?"  
  
"Why are you so not? Honestly, it's not the end of the world, " she asked, using the old Socratic method. George pondered for a moment.  
  
"One.. I have Muggle Studies." He told her as they turned a corner. Alicia opened her mouth to argue but George cut her off. "B: Fred doesn't have muggle studies," Alicia thought about that for a second and slowly nodded her head. "And D ..." he tried to think of another reason why he was upset.  
  
"Well get over it! You have Muggle Studies with me at least you're not totally alone!" Alicia pointed out. George tried to make that a happy thought but it just wouldn't happen. All too soon, they had arrived at the Muggle Studies class room.  
  
But before they could enter someone ... ('or rather something' George thought) showed up looking distressed.  
  
"George!" Ron called, tripping a bit as he and Harry Potter hurried over to him. "We're lost!"  
  
"Kudos to you," George grinned.  
  
"Help!" Ron exclaimed.  
  
"Oooh.. is that what you want?" George asked, innocently rubbing his chin.  
  
"What do you need?" Alicia asked, pushing George aside. George snorted as Ron's ears turned a bit red. Why was Ron embarrassed?? George had no clue, but his ears were red all the same. He chuckled some more, covering his mouth and looking away. George looked from Ron to Harry, and then his gaze landed on Harry's scar. There it was just ... there. It was like any other scar that George had on his own body... but it was different. It was a lightning bolt... on his forehead. Covered a bit by his untidy mop of hair, just looking at it made George's stomach knot a little. 'Voldemort' George thought to himself. Even hearing it inside his mind made George a bit uncomfortable.  
  
"Trans ... Transfiguration Class... Professor McGonagall.." Ron said, pronouncing the wicked bat's name wrong, "Where is it?"  
  
Alicia smiled kindly and pointed down the corridor. It was a moment before George realized she was pointing in the wrong direction entirely. George pried his eyes away from Harry's scar and opened his mouth to tell Alicia she was wrong, but then he decided that passing up the chance to correct Alicia was worth his little brother being late to McGonagall's class any day. He decided not to say anything till the first years were gone.  
  
"Thank you!" Ron said, his ears still red. He stumbled a bit on his overly large feet and they disappeared down the wrong corridor.  
  
"You do know you just gave my little brother the wrong directions," George said, a smug grin on his face. He expected her mouth to fall open, perhaps she would stop dead in her tracks, embarrassed that she'd forgotten where Transfiguration was. But instead a sly grin, much like his own, spread across her lips.  
  
"I know."  
  
George blinked a few times, then let out a small laugh. "What?" he asked. "Do my ears deceive me?"  
  
"No, they're working perfectly fine. What do you think about that?" she asked.  
  
"I think you need to get your own act because being annoying prats is copyrighted Fred and Myself."  
  
"I'm not being an annoying prat! It's not my fault your antics have rubbed off on me."  
  
"Yea well. don't do it again."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because you're too nice for that."  
  
The words spilled out of his mouth. He hadn't really meant anything by it, they really just sort of came out because it was true. Alicia hadn't quite experienced enough mischief to be telling people wrong directions on purpose. What next? Pfft, she'd probably be going to Hogmeade with them to steal butterbeer. It was simply out of the question.  
  
They were approaching the class room by now, the professor standing by the doorway greeting students as they came in. Short, thin, and with a head of long dark hair, she smiled warmly, inviting them in. George recognized her now, remembering the first time he was informed that she was a teacher and not a student. True, she looked a bit older, maybe twenty five or so, but she was still small. He shook her hand, forcing a polite grin. First impressions were everything and nice ones made for an even better facial expression when this woman finally realized he wasn't a regular student.  
  
"You must be a Weasley," the woman said to him. His grin widened, although he hoped he looked annoyed. Assumptions, assumptions. He wondered what it was like for those people with red hair who weren't Weasleys.  
  
By the time the bell rang, Alicia had some how managed to make George sit in the very front of class. He sank low in his chair, though, hoping no one would notice or think perhaps he had conformed to be a well behaved young man. No, don't want that.  
  
"Come on in, come on in... it's OK to be late today, seeing as it's the first day," the Professor said, coming up the isle and standing in front of the class.  
  
George looked around as other people found their seats. Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors, and Slytherins all had this class. George didn't really find it much of a surprise... but it was the first time he had people from all 4 houses in one of his classes. He spotted a few other Gryffindors, and noted the Slytherins, particularly Adrian Coleman. Being in Slytherin, she did, of course, think herself higher than everyone around her. But she'd always been a sight to see, her pretty blonde hair pulled up in a pony tail, cold blue green eyes that always had an hint of superiority beaming out from them. She looked even more annoyed than usual, and George figured it was probably because she was taking this class. Most Slytherins weren't interested in muggles.  
  
A few seats away from Adrian, George spotted Cedric Diggory, Hufflepuff extraordinaire. Idiot, George thought, grinning inside himself. Too bad he didn't get brains with those apparent good looks. George opened his mouth to tell Alicia this but found, to his displeasure, that Alicia was waving at the very person he'd been prepared to insult.  
  
Frowning and feeling a lurch of something inside him, George felt his blood rise a little. Disliking Cedric even more than usual, he had a strong urge to go and land a punch right square into his perfect nose. but he was forced to put his dignity aside as class started.  
  
"Shhh..alright, everyone settle down, settle down.." the professor said, clapping her hands together to get everyone's attention. The voices settled down as the class respectfully gave her their attention.  
  
"Alright, this is Study of Muggles and their History, room 112, second floor. If anyone should not be in this class, please bring me your schedule now." Everyone looked around to see if anyone was raising their hand. No one was. "Alright then, let's get started," she smiled brightly at the class. That seemed to set off a chain reaction and the entire atmosphere of the room seemed to soften.  
  
"Hello... my name is Rayelle Magness... you, however, may call me Professor Magness," the short woman addressed the class. George couldn't help but grin, any teacher who told you their first name on the first day was sure to be laid back and possibly even nice. George wondered if that was blasphemous.  
  
"Welcome to The Study of Muggles and their History! Which is better known as just Muggles Studies... or atleast it was when I went here. Anyway, we all know what a muggle is." she stated. George laughed in his mind at anyone in this class who didn't know what a muggle was. 'Diggory' he thought, and a grin spread across his face like butter on toast.  
  
"And we all know what witches and wizards are," She leaned against her desk. "We all know why they are different. But ... how are they the same?" she asked. 'Easy enough' George thought. 'They...' he searched his brain. 'Well... they..' he couldn't think of anything. 'Of course, they' ... nothing.  
  
"Yes?" Professor Magness motioned towards the back of the room. George spun around. 'It can't be!!' he thought. But alas, it was: Cedric Diggory. He had his hand raised and the teacher... professor Magness was asking HIM to answer her question. George felt his cheeks turn red again and watched as if in slow motion as Diggory's lips formed words. Of course, to George, no actual words came out. Just noises. Noises that were the correct answer. And then as though someone had fast-forwarded everything, Professor Magness was saying. "Good! They certainly both do, but that's not quite the answer I was looking for." George stifled a laughed, deciding that if he laughed he might have been asked to answer.  
  
Professor Magness called on a couple more people who gave good answers, but she didn't seem impressed. This sunk George's hopes a bit. If she wasn't all that impressed with these answers, this class was sure to be rather difficult. It might even include a bit of. thinking. George turned up his nose at the thought.  
  
"Something they've always had together!" Professor Magness prompted her students. George hoped she wouldn't call on him, for he really hadn't a clue. It was then that Alicia timidly raised her hand. George watched her out of the corner of his eyes.  
  
"Yes? How are they alike?"  
  
"They both share. well. sort of. They but endured relatively the same History. in Europe that is," Alicia said quietly, fidgeting with her fingers. George thought about that for a moment, and gave a curt little nod. They sort of did.  
  
"She's got it. Five points to Gryffindor." Alicia beamed and George smiled at her. Good. That would make up for lost points he and Fred would surely loose sometime during the next 42 hours.  
  
"They both share the same basic history. They both lived intertwined within each other, both inspired each other and both grew to dislike each other, or some of them on both sides did. But that's later on." She proceeded to pull open a desk drawer and pulled out an odd contraption, of which, probably had muggle origin. She placed it on her desk for them all to see.  
  
"Now, with all the enchantments and such put around Hogwarts, I will not be able to demonstrate the use of many of the artifacts and products I will be sharing with you throughout the year. Enchantments and the fact that many of them run on electricity. but that, too, is for later learning. Oh yes, this is going to be a wonderful class, and I'm so happy that I've got so many students in my class who are eager to learn about muggles. This is going to be a very great year, I can see it."  
  
"And so ... like all great things, we start at the beginning. Some would say 'Start at the beginning with those fantastic four who started Hogwarts.' But, no, I won't. Because there is a deeper and older magic than that. And an even deeper magic that that. And an even deeper magic than that and so forth. Magic to the 14th realm and beyond." by this point, students had either lost interest and were either doodling on parchment or pretending to watching, their eyes glazed over. or they were actually paying attention. George was. 'Deeper magic?' he wondered. The professor charged on, telling them about the earliest magicians and a pure, simple magic, how the humans who had discovered magic had broken themselves away from others. it went on and on and George found himself utterly amazed. Why had Professor Binns not started there? Maybe he had, George said to himself, and I just never noticed.  
  
"And so. that's the beginning of the beginning. We'll carry on next class, take notes and such but not too much because I only give you notes enough to do well on your exam. You can take the rest of the period to do whatever; I need to prepare for my next class."  
  
George huffed a breath out and sat, as though he'd just woken up from an early morning nap or something of the sort. In a way he wasn't really all that amazed that any of that had happened, but he was still rather baffled by this 'Deeper magic' sort of thing she had mentioned. It wrestled his conscious for a few minutes and when Alicia nudged him in the arm, he found he'd been starring at the shiny white object that sat on the professor's desk.  
  
"Are you feeling alright?" Alicia asked him. George blinked and thought for a second.  
  
"Uh.. oh, yeah. Great," he smiled. Maybe this class wasn't going to be so horrible after all.  
  
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"I can't believe all that stuff Professor Magness told us today," Alicia commented at lunch time. George nodded.  
  
"Crazy," was all he could say without little chucks of chewed turkey flying out of his mouth.  
  
"So... everyone have a good day?" Alicia addressed everyone else. The rest of the group exchanged glances as Alicia innocently poured herself a glass of milk.  
  
"I assume you meant to say 'how was first hour?'" Katie asked. Alicia paused, assumed an annoyed little smile and nodded, glaring at Katie.  
  
"I suppose so..." she said, nodding her head slightly. Her lips formed a rather odd smile and George swallowed his food. 'The Wrath of Alicia' George though, shuddering mentally.  
  
"Well apparently I'm going to loose my voice soon," Lee said, his voice crackling slightly. Katie giggled, but everyone else starred at them.  
  
Angelina spoke first: "Come again?"  
  
"Our Divination teacher... she's crazy! She said I was going to loose my voice soon--"  
  
"And I'm going to take up a sport I never thought I would," Katie proclaimed, saying it as though it were important, but she had a sly look on her face.  
  
"Fred?" Alicia addressed Fred, who was being unusually quiet, though unlike Breakfast, he was actually paying attention.  
  
"It was OK I guess. I mean, at least I have someone in the class with me," Fred winked a Angelina and put his arm around her. Angelina put down her goblet, smacked her lips together, and slowly turned her head to look at Fred. Her eyebrows were raised and her face serious. There were no need for words, Fred got the picture and recoiled his arm, looking rather afraid of Angelina. She instantly started giggling.  
  
"I'm just kidding!" she said, putting her head on his shoulder. George smiled, noticing the awkward way Fred sat, the expression on his face was priceless; a mix between confusion and utter joy.  
  
"So what do we have next?" Fred said, emphasizing the word 'we'. At that moment, they all looked at their schedules and together said "Potions" out loud. They all chuckled little and then groaned as they realized the word they had synchronized.  
  
"Well at least we're all together! I mean, mischief will soon insure, right?" Lee pointed out.  
  
"And you know the best part of mischief making?" Fred asked.  
  
"Seeing your brilliance unfold," George finished.  
  
"Oh joy," Katie remarked ruefully.  
  
George sighed and held his tongue, continuing on his food quest. It wasn't worth picking a fight with Katie, the girls would take her side and there would be some sort of small civil war between the six of them and George would probably end up having to say sorry. The other boys, Fred and Lee, would probably have to apologize too because they would have taken George's side. He knew the routine a little too well and didn't want to go through with it until absolutely necessary.  
  
Lunch was nearly over and George had just come back out from under the table to find Alicia smiling at him. He smiled back cautiously back at her and noticed that she wasn't looking at him anymore, she was looking over his shoulder, seemingly annoyed that he was in her way of something. He jokingly moved in front of her view, wherever she tried to look. She really did look at him then, glaring evilly and threw her napkin at him angrily.  
  
"Stop that!"  
  
George was taken aback, and turned to look over his shoulder at what was so important that she'd had to watch. Nothing there.  
  
"What were you looking at?" he turned around to ask her but found the girls had already left. His gaze followed them as they walked over to the big oak doors leading out into the main hall. But they were stopped by a certain someone as they reached them. George watched, eyes bugging out of his head, as Cedric Diggory, standing a foot taller than any of them, even Angelina, greeted them. Envy surged through his veins as Alicia giggled, and covered her mouth, twisting a strand of hair around her finger.  
  
"Git," he heard someone say. Bringing his attention back to the table before him, he noticed Fred and Lee were both watching the scene too.  
  
"I know, right?"  
  
"Really is an idiot."  
  
"They just think he's good looking."  
  
"Doesn't even have a sense of humor."  
  
"Cause he's too stupid to put a joke together."  
  
George didn't feel so envious as he rose and they kept pelting poor Diggory with insults behind his back, making their way to the dungeons. By the end of the trip, the twins and Lee were laughing richly, falling over each other and quickly taking their seats before Snape could deduct any points from Gryffindor before the real fun would begin.  
  
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Right then. well. I've changed a lot of this chapter, it just had a lot of grammatical errors and loose ends and spelling etc. but. yeah. Hehe! Alright, sorry I haven't written in a while, you can flog me later. *grumbles*Filch. ah. anyways, I'm redoing this story. I dunno how long this'll be, it's one of my favorites. I just.. haven't had the muse to finish it. Plus the night of the ah. computer death I met this really sweet and very attractive guy. Yea, we ended up going out about a month or so later and then on our 4 month anniversary he broke up with me because we never saw eachother and he might have cheated on me. Really considerate of him, eh? So, yea I've been coping with that and a whole bunch of other CRAP. *deep breath* Right, on to the next chapter!!  
  
OOOOH! AND PS. before you decide to review me, please just. yea, don't tell me how to write my story. I don't mind you asking me to hurry it up or suggestion stuff but PLEASE. you blow out my writer's flame when you do that. I love you all so much. 


	2. Beware ye Big Brothers and Doors

First things first- a moment of silence for Richard Harris. May you forever be remembered as more than just Albus Dumbledore, but the actor who portrayed him better than any person ever could. You're in our prayers.  
  
Chappy 2- Alright, I don't own these characters, and I promise I'll return them to Rowling when I'm done playing with them... all in one piece too!! ps- don't ask what I was one while writing this, I honestly don't know. I'm a right-brained thinker (much as 90% of writers are) so you know what I mean when it just spills out of your brain.  
  
"Ya know, Muggles aren't as stupid as I made them out to be," George announced to Alicia a week later in Muggle Studies class.  
  
"I'll take that as a compliment," Professor Magness muttered quietly in his ear as she passed by their desk. George's eyes widened and he starred at Alicia, who was innocently copying from their text book, a small smirk on her lips.  
  
As soon as Professor Magness was out of hearing range (which wasn't far because it was rather loud in the class) "Why didn't you tell me she was RIGHT behind me!?"George hissed.  
  
"I didn't know you were about to call muggles stupid," Alicia answered, not looking away from the book. She was still smirking. George leaned back in his chair and looked around at the people in the class.  
  
"Ok, granted but st-" and just then Cedric showed up. George watched in disgust as Alicia'a eyes immediatly became glazed over. She starred up at Diggory as though he were a hunk of chocoloate and George was sure she was about to start drooling soon.  
  
"Hi Alicia ... Weasley," Diggory adressed them both. 'Oh so it's a first name basis with HER' George thought disdainfully.  
  
"Hi Cedric," Alicia sang sweetly. George made a face... Alicia never used that special voice with HIM that way!! Why was Cedric so special?? George felt his cheeks redden.  
  
"Can... Alicia, can I talk to you privatly?" Cedric asked, eyeing George suspiciously. George raised his eyebrows in amazment and anger.  
  
"Excuse me?? No, we're doing our assignment," George leaned forward in his seat and gave Diggory a cold glare.  
  
"No we're not, I'M doing our assignment... you're sitting there!" Alicia said loudly to make sure she got her point across to both boys. George swallowed a remark as Alicia got up out of her chair and lead Cedric away. He leaned in their direction to hear exactly what they were saying, but he couldn't make it out. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. 'Stupid Hufflepuff' George thought to himself for the 100th time that week.  
  
Acouple minutes later, after George had messied up a piece of paper and wasted ink by sketching all sorts of deathly pictures about Diggory, Alicia came back to their desk. George looked up at her, but he couldn't see her face; her hair covered her expression.  
  
"So what did he want?" George tried to seem dis-interested.  
  
"Nothing!" Alicia snapped at him. George raised one eyebrow and slowly turned to look at Diggory. There he was, the little prick, just standing there talking to some some older girl who had moved into their class. She looked really annoyed, and for that, George was happy.  
  
"Ha!" George said outloud.  
  
"You had better not say 'I told you so,'" Alicia spoke quietly and she still didn't look up at George, "Cause you never said anything." George moved his chair closer to her.  
  
"What are you talking about?" George asked quietly.  
  
With eyes that looked about to cry and lips that showed no expression but told so much, Alicia looked up at George. George suddenly felt very uncomfortable and that old feeling came back to him. That feeling he got in the pit of his stomach whenever Alicia was upset or happy or showed any sortof emotion or even when she was just around. But this time it was different. She was upset... sad even ... angry? No... sad...  
  
"You... you didn't hear our conversation?" Alicia asked, sniffling a bit. George shook his head no and starred at her reddened eyes.  
  
"Oh..." Alicia looked away. She glanced in Cedric's direction and then up at the ceiling.  
  
"Alica, what happened?" George asked urgently. If he hurt her... oh wow, George didn't even know what he would do.  
  
Alicia starred at him for acouple seconds, trying to blink away her tear filled eyes. "Nothing.. it .. it was nothing," she lied.  
  
"Yes it was! It's not nothing!! It can't be nothing... I mean, nothing isn't this," George pointed to her text book, which had a giant tear splatter on it. Alicia smiled grimly.  
  
"It's nothing... it's not like it matters," she said. George was about to argue back that it did matter, but Professor Magness started speaking to the class.  
  
"Alright class, pack up, I have a few announcements to make," the short teacher proclaimed. George took one last look at Alicia, who was trying to give him a reassuring smile. He returned her a worried look and began packing away his book, which he hadn't opened at all, and the parchment which he had made little bitty sketches all over. He looked over his artwork for a moment and grinned.  
  
"As you all know ... or should know..." Professor Magness adressed them, "this assignment is due in two days. You will all make oral presentations with your partner," George glanced at Alicia. She was writing something very quickly on a piece of parchment. George ignored the words Professor Magness spoke and leaned over Alicia's shoulder and tried to read what she was reading.  
  
"Yes?" Alicia whispered, covering whatever she was writing, and turning her head to look at George. George smiled innocently and sat back down in his seat.  
  
"Mr. Weasley, did you hear anything I just said?" Professor Magness asked. George, still wearing his innocent smile, looked up at his teacher.  
  
"Yes... yes I did," he responded. He could feel people starring at the back of his head. Professor Magness eyed him suspiciously, and then nodded.  
  
"I won't insult you by asking the truth of this... but this is your grade, not mine ... please stay focused, this is very important." George nodded and thanked the Lord he didn't have to repeat anything she said, especially since he hadn't heard hardly anything. He glanced at Alicia again, only to find her scribbling very quickly. 'Why don't teachers ever scold girls??' George wondered, and then took that back.. Snape repremanded any non- Slytherin student who entered his class room.  
  
And then the bell rang.  
  
"Ah that melodious sound..." George smiled as he threw his bag over his shoulder, and turned to smile at Alicia. But she wasn't even there. George looked around wildly for his friend, and found her attatched to that stupid HufflePuff again.  
  
"Aaarrg!" George proclaimed loudly. Several students looked up at him and George smiled at them all. One girl giggled.  
  
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"So you never even found out what happened??" whispered Fred to George during their History of Magic class. George pried his eyes away from their older brother, Percy, who helped Professor in this class.  
  
"No, I never got the chance.." George lied. He HAD gotten the chance, but when he had asked, she didn't answer. Her teary eyes flashed in front of his eyes again and he shook himself mentally.  
  
"Well ask her now!" Fred hissed, motioning towards the sleeping Alicia seated in front of them. From his seat one step up from her, he could see her dark hair falling on her face. Her body rose slightly as she dreamed peacefully...  
  
"I can't do that," George whispered. Fred snorted but George didn't looking away from Alicia, "She's sleeping." George explained. Fred rolled his eyes as he crumpled up a piece of paper, and then proceeded to throw it at Alicia. The paper bounced off Alicia's head and hit Angelina, who threw it at Lee. Alicia didn't even stir. Fred made a small cry of protest and kicked Alicia's chair.  
  
"Stop!" George hissed, kicking out at Fred's foot, missing, and also kicking Alicia's chair.  
  
"Both of you stop or I'm going to personally castrate both of you."  
  
Fred and George exchanged rather worried looks while Angelina giggled.  
  
"Sorry," they muttered together. Apparently Alicia wasn't exactly asleep.  
  
"You stunned 'er just as she was wakin' up!" Fred whispered. George couldn't help but chuckle as Alicia stood up and went to go ask Professor Binns something.  
  
"I wonder what happened to her," George spoke as quietly as he could as she sashayed past their desk and out of the class.  
  
"Write her a note and find out!" Fred suggested. George's face scrunched up. How girly did Fred think he was??  
  
"No..."  
  
"You're chicken!" Fred accused him.  
  
"No, I'm not!" George whined in protest. 'Good come back' he thought immediatly after the words came out of his mouth. George was about to add something when Professor Binns cut in.  
  
"I must leave for a moment," Binns announced. "In the mean time, Mr. Weasley will be watching you," and suddenly before anyone could say anything, Professor Binns had dimmed out. Even Percy looked surprised.  
  
"I'm going to make you move out front with the chickens when we get home," Fred said. George rolled his eyes. Sometimes his brother was so stupid. He wondered how they ever managed to pull pranks like they did.  
  
"You're an idiot," George stated plainly. Fred looked insulted, but then he smiled mischieviously.  
  
"Am I?" he said more than asked. George eyed him suspicously as Fred got out a piece of paper and filed up his quill with ink. He looked up at the cieling dramatically and put the tip of the feather to his chin, making it seem as though he were thinking of what to say.  
  
"What are you doing?" George wanted to know.  
  
"Let's see... what to write, what to write?" Fred winked at his brother, and put the tip of his quill to the parchment. "To the lovely Alicia," he said quietly as his quill scratched against the tan paper. George's eyes darted from the paper to his brother. "I think I love you." WHAT!?? Was there something Fred wasn't telling George?!  
  
"What!?" George finally sputtered.  
  
"Shh!" came Percy's hush. George looked up to see Percy still sitting there all high and mighty, but not looking from his work.  
  
"I think you're beautiful," Fred said. It took a second for George to realize what Fred was saying ... he was still writing to Alicia. George could feel his anger rising.  
  
"Fred..." George could hardly even hear himself say it.  
  
"Write me back... love," Fred was scribbling so fast, he wondered if Alicia would even be able to read it, which he had to objections to, "George."  
  
Love George... WHAT!? The letter wasn't from him!  
  
Almost immediatly George made to take the parchment from in front of his twin, but Fred was too quick and in one swift movement, he had turned his back to George and started folding the parchment. Try as he might, George couldn't get to the fake letter.  
  
"What is going on here?!" came Percy's voice. The brothers froze and George tried not to smile as he realized what they both probably looked like; Fred hunched over a now folded up letter, and George hunched over Fred, trying to retreive the letter. All eyes were on them, especially Percy, who was standing there with his hands on his hips. ('A perfect imatation of Mum' George thought)  
  
The room was dead silent except for a few giggles, and Alicia couldn't have chosen a better time to re-enter the class room.  
  
"I don't even want to know," Alicia said after acouple seconds of studying the scene. Nearly everyone laughed, except for a dissaproving Teacher's Helper Percy, who snatched the letter from Fred's hands and unfolded it as he walked back up front.  
  
"You do know how much I would love to read this outloud to your peers. But seeing as I'm the bigger person here I won't... actually I will," Percy grinned. George's mouth fell open. He'd never known Percy to be so horrible. "Unless.." Percy grinned "Unless you can give me a good reason not to."  
  
George groaned, but Fred looked as happy as a clam. George was surprised he wasn't rubbing his hands together with glee and he could feel his face redden as he realized all eyes were on him.  
  
"Well??" Percy insisted on knowing.  
  
"You... ah... I don't ... " George stuttered. Alicia was giggling. Darn you, Fred! Darn you to heck!  
  
"Yes?" Percy's smile was creepy. George closed his eyes and tried to think of a good reason. If Binns were here right now, this wouldn't be happening at all! Stupid old bat! George could feel the blood pulsing through his viens. Percy was never this horrible!  
  
"It's personal," George said, eyes still closed. Percy snorted, and readjusted his glasses and took a deep breath to read outloud .....  
  
(`'·.¸(`'·.¸*¤*¸.·'´)¸.·'´) «´¨`·. ¤* *¤ .·´¨`» (¸.·'´(¸.·'´*¤*`'·.¸)`'·.¸)  
  
"You are too lucky for words," Fred told George for the millionth time as the made their way up the stair case leading to the boy's dormitory hall.  
  
"Yeah, just my luck," George said grimly.  
  
"Who would have imagined Binns would appear at that very moment," Lee said after hearing the over-exargerated point of view from Fred. George smiled his own secret smile, and let out another sigh of relief.  
  
"Too bad he didn't read it though... " Fred sounded dissappointed.  
  
"Oh yes... too bad Percy the Prick didn't read a letter to Alicia forged by you in my name professing my love to her," George said sarcastically as he opened their door.  
  
"Do I sense sarcasm?" Fred asked, sounding like some pompous teacher.  
  
"Why yes! Yes it is... I don't like Alicia, OK?" George said, stalking over to the bathroom and slamming the door. George closed his eyes and leaned against the door.  
  
He did like Alicia, and George knew it perfectly too well. He tried not to think about it, but Alicia's pictureflashed before his eyes. Cinnamon eyes... beautiful cinnamon eyes... Her dark hair... her long dark hair... her long, dark, tantalizingly, sweet smelling, silky soft hair... and then there was that smile. So full of life, when she allowed it.  
  
But Alicia was crazy! Mean and crazy and funny and cute... George sighed half out of her being so sweet and out of the fact that he didn't want to like her.  
  
But he couldn't help it. No matter what he did to tell himself no...  
  
"George?" Lee knocked on the door.  
  
"Yes?"George asked, almost defiantly.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Nothing." George got up quickly, about to come out of the bathroom when--  
  
"He's thinking about Alicia," George heard Fred say.  
  
"Am not!" George whined.  
  
"And you know how sexy Alicia is," Fred teased. George felt his cheeks get red again. What did he mean by that!?  
  
"Wha do you mean by that!?" George pulled the door open swiftly. He meant it to be alarming .. he meant it to be kinda scary.... but it's not scary when you smack yourself in the forehead with a door. And before George knew it, that very thing happened and George found himself lying in a heap on the bathroom floor.  
  
"George?! You OK!?" Lee and Fred rushed to George's side.  
  
"How many fingers am I holding up?" Fred held up all 10 fingers as Lee quickly went in the loo to get a cup of water.  
  
"Ooow.." George responded, putting his hand up to the newly forming bump on his forehead.  
  
"Look, you're not Harry Potter, get over it," Lee said splashing water on George's face.  
  
"Aah!" George sputtered and opened his eyes in time to see Lee reaching to touch the nump.  
  
"No touchy!" George swatted at Lee's hand.  
  
"I think you need to see Madam Pomfrey," Fred said. George rolled his eyes, causing the begining of an intense headache.  
  
"Me too... come on," Lee said, trying to help George up.  
  
"Look, I don't need help," George tried to get up himself but as he sat up, the world around him because a swirling mass of colors and he quickly laid back down, Fred putting his hand behind George's head.  
  
"Yes... you do need help," Fred said. George whimpered. "Come on," Fred and Lee both worked to heave George up on his feet.  
  
"You gonna make it?" Fred asked. George looked at him out of the corner of his eye and actually saw worry in his brother's face. George nodded sincerely as Lee opened the door and then began dragging George down the hallway.  
  
"Everyone's gone to bed," Fred reassured George, who wondered why, but then decided today was his half lucky day. It would have been entirely lucky if Fred hadn't writen that letter and if George hadn't smacked himself in the head with a bathroom door.  
  
The trip to the Hosptital Wing was a long one and luckily alittle more than halfway there, Madam Pomfrey happened to look outside the infermerary. He magic-ed him on a stretcher and, much to the 3 boys' dismay, sent Fred and Lee back to the Gryffindor Wing.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Omg, I loved writing this because these 2 things happened to me: my friend wrote a note to this guy I liked and signed it as my name ... but the Teacher DID read it outloud (HOW EMBARRASSING!!) and I also hit my head on the bathroom door and I had to go to the hosptital, even though it wasn't that bad, hehe. Love you guys lots!! Thanks for all the reviews, but you really don't have to. ::giggles!:: Love, always, *~Crystal~* 


	3. Revalations in Love

George Weasley lay in a hospital wing bed, moon light splashing across his face. He wanted to laugh at himself for being such an idiot...  
  
An idiot for smacking himself in the temple with a bathroom door.  
  
And idiot for like Alicia Spinnet.  
  
"You're an idiot," he told himself, taking another sip of water. The moon was full and bright on this particular night and George shuddered slightly. Werewolves... he had been very bored one day and decided to read ahead in the Defense Against the Dark Arts books.  
  
But George was happy to be here for some reason. It gave him a chance to be away from everyone else... to be alone. It gave him a chance to think without Lee adding in some comment or Fred interupting with some sort of potion exploding causing them to have to evactuate the dorm room and spend the night in the common room. George grinned, though, at the thought of the few times this had happened.  
  
Thinking ... George's grin faded alittle. Thats one way he had seen that he and Fred were different. Alicia, Katie, and Angelina often said the difference between Fred and George was that George thought before speaking, which George had to agree with... but of course, Fred was spontaniuos, and many times that was how they escaped from Filch. George smiled. He really did like his away time. Maybe he would get hurt more often... though that really hurt. George rubbed the place where the bump had occured, only to feel a slight tingling feeling. Madam Pomfrey had fixed him right up but decided to keep him in the Hospital Wing anyways... most likely because she enjoyed the company.  
  
George let his mind wander to Alicia again. He sat smiling for a second, picturing Alicia in his mind. Alicia Spinnet... how he loved the. George giggled to himself and settled in the bed alittle more. But something was nagging him in the back of his head. Then the picture of Alicia's teary eyesflashed in front of his eyes again. It was like a growing headache and trying to get it away was impossible.  
  
"It's because she's your friend.. not because you like her," George told himself. George knew he was kiding himself. Or was he? Was George just confused about the whole thing? Did he really like her like he thought he liked her. It was so confusing. George wondered if liking people was supposed to be this confusing. He wondered if he was supposed to like girls at all. "Fred likes Angelina," George told himself. "And Lee probably likes Katie..." George smiled. Katie was so wrapped up in that Cedric that she hardly noticed Lee at all... George would hate to be Lee... to be ignored by the person you love...  
  
A thought suddenly popped into George's mine... what if Alicia didn't like George? It was obvious up till today she liked Diggory, that is until he made her cry... but what if she still liked him?? George knew people did stupid things in the name of love sometimes... George himself had smacked himself with a bathroom door in defense of Alicia.  
  
What had Fred meant anyways? "And we all know Alicia's so sexy!" the words echoed in his mind. Had Fred even said that? The whole day had been very strange.  
  
And George went on thinking like this late into the night and he didn't sleep much that night.  
  
(`'·.¸(`'·.¸*¤*¸.·'´)¸.·'´) «´¨`·. ¤* *¤ .·´¨`» (¸.·'´(¸.·'´*¤*`'·.¸)`'·.¸)  
  
George sat on the endge of his own bed in his own dorm room tying his own shoes. It was the next morning and Madam Pomfrey hadn't let him out until well after the first hour started. It was the quietest their dorm had ever been. No snoring Fred, no chattering Lee. No explosions, no scuffling feet, no sounds at all. Sunlight poured through the small stain-glass window casting a beautiful ivory glow around the room. George smiled. For some reason he felt so much older today than he did yesterday.  
  
George slowly made his way to Muggle Studies. Shouldn't waste perfectly good time in class. And plus he was tired... quite tired. George felt different today... maybe it was the fact that Summer was ending and Fall was beginning. The leaves would soon be changing and the weather would become cold.  
  
"Mr. Weasley, you're tardiness is excused," Professor Magness said to him when finally strolled in. She happened to be standing right near the door. George smiled brightly and nodded.  
  
As George made his way down the rows to his own seat, he spotted Diggory eying him suspiously. Good. Diggory was aware that Alicia and george were close. 'He can think we're as close as he wants' George thought, wondering if that made any sense at all.  
  
And then he saw Alicia. Up at the board, she was checking some sort of list. George smiled and slowly crept up behind her until he was standing only and few inches from her.  
  
"Goodmorning," he said brightly. Alicia jumped and spun around. She huffed a breath and George could tell he had gotten her adrinaline pumping. George smiled and offered her a large hug. She gave him an odd smile but hugged him anyways.  
  
"Goodmorning," she said, her head still in his chest. "Are you alright?" she asked when she finally escaped from him. She touched his forhead where the door had hit him. George's smile suddenly ceased to exist.  
  
"I'm fine, why do you ask?" George said weakly. He turned away and went to their seat, but not before glancing at Diggory, who wasn't looking at them at all.  
  
"I heard what happened," Alicia told him. George laughed.  
  
"Funny, huh?" George put his backpack on the back of his chair and sat down.  
  
"Thankyou."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"Defending me," Alicia was stil standing there with her arms crossed. Neither spoke for a few seconds and at that moment George knew that what he felt for Alicia was no mistake. He really did like her.  
  
"You're welcome."  
  
(`'·.¸(`'·.¸*¤*¸.·'´)¸.·'´) «´¨`·. ¤* *¤ .·´¨`» (¸.·'´(¸.·'´*¤*`'·.¸)`'·.¸)  
  
Rain. George smiled as he listened to the water splattering on their dorm window. George loved rain ... 'almost as much as Alicia,' George thought to himself and smiled at his own thoughts.  
  
"I hate rain," George heard Lee say. George snorted at the irony of Lee's words.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"It's annoying," Lee complained. George rolled his eyes and turned the page of his text book.  
  
"George, what are you doing?" Fred asked suspiciously from the bathroom. A few loud footsteps and acouple seconds later, the closed curtains of George's four-poster bed had been pulled back violently. There stood Fred, tooth brush in hand, hair still wet from a shower.  
  
"Homework?" George suggested innocently. Fred dropped his toothbrush and starred at George, mouth wide open in shock.  
  
"No! Bad George! No biscuit!" Fred seized George's book and threw it to the ground then pointed a finger in George's face. "We do not do homework!"  
  
"Come on, I need to get a good grade," George said, climbing off his bed and picking up his book. He examined it to make sure there were no damages and placed it carefully on the desk.  
  
"Oh pu-leese! You just want to impress Alicia," Fred picked up his tooth brush and shook it at George. George smiled mischieviously as toothpaste flew off of Fred's toothbrush.  
  
"So?"  
  
"You're helpless," Fred put his tooth brush back in his mouth, despite the fact that it had been on the floor.  
  
"I gotta go with Fred on this one, man," Lee said, lying down in his own bed. "You're helpless"  
  
"I'm not helpless," George told Lee.  
  
"Yes you are, you helpless fool!!" Fred was wiping his hand on the back of his hand. He looked at both of them before turning out the lamp that lit the room.  
  
"You would do the same for Angie," George said pulling his curtains closed again and laying back with his hands behind his head. "I mean, we all know how sexy she is."  
  
"Shut up," Fred hissed. George smiled as he heard Lee chuckling.  
  
"Oh and Katie... she just lights my fire," Fred leered and Lee stopped laughing.  
  
"We're all crazy," Lee said after a few moments of silence.  
  
"Yep," Fred and George said in unison.  
  
(`'·.¸(`'·.¸*¤*¸.·'´)¸.·'´) «´¨`·. ¤* *¤ .·´¨`» (¸.·'´(¸.·'´*¤*`'·.¸)`'·.¸)  
  
It was still raining when they rolled out of bed the next morning, which happened to be a Saturday.  
  
"Ahhrrg!" Lee anounced, kicking at nothing in particular.  
  
"What now?!" Fred asked, pulling back his curtain.  
  
"It's still raining!"  
  
There was a sudden knock at the door. In response, Fred and George both exchanged glances and raced towards the bathroom door. It wasn't hard to beat Fred, especially because he was still tangled up in his bed sheets.  
  
"Damn you!" Fred cursed from the floor.  
  
"Haha!" George laughed at his brother before closing the bathroom door.  
  
Both Fred and George knew that only one person could be at the door on a rainy Saturday morning, and that person was Oliver Wood.  
  
"Go away!" George heard Fred say from the other side of the door. Apparently Oliver had infultrated the room. George locked the door and quickly turned on the shower. He had just gotten undressed when there was a loud knock at the door.  
  
"Come out Weasley! I know you're in there!!" Oliver demanded, knocking on the door agian to which George responded with a loud bout of singing. "Don't make me come in there!!" Oliver was practically screaming now. George responded by singing even louder.  
  
"George, come out! I need to shower too!" came Fred's panicked voice. George sighed and hurried on with his shower.  
  
(`'·.¸(`'·.¸*¤*¸.·'´)¸.·'´) «´¨`·. ¤* *¤ .·´¨`» (¸.·'´(¸.·'´*¤*`'·.¸)`'·.¸)  
  
Indeed, it certainly was raining. But thats not to say George didn't enjoy it. George loved rain. It was simple and complex, all at the same time. And there was defenitely something exciting about Quidditch in the rain.  
  
"Aha!" George dove under Fred and ahead of him by a few feet as they raced around the Pitch. Fred made an annoyed sort of sound and sped up his own broom. They were neck in neck until Fred pulled ahead a bit and turned sharply tocut off George, but Fred had done this numerous times before. George dove again under his brother and sped off to where the rest of the team had just arrived on the field. Once he landed, he finally noticed and was surprised to see Katie Bell there under a large umbrella, for Katie wasn't on the team.  
  
"Katie!" George splashed through puddles and ran to hug her.  
  
"No! Go away! You're all wet," Katie quickly placed herself in her defense position. George backed away... many time before had he seen the wrath of Katie Bell and she could sure pack a powerful punch to the stomach.  
  
"Katie's only come to watch..." said Alicia just as Oliver came outside checking over a clip board. George nodded and smiled Alicia, who made eye contact with him, but looked at the ground instead of smiling. George was about to say something when Oliver showed up.  
  
"Alright as you all know--" Oliver began before he set eyes on Katie. George exchanged a glance with Alicia as Oliver and Katie both just starred at eachother.  
  
"Bell..." Oliver said.  
  
"Katie Bell," Katie corrected him, still under her umbrella.  
  
"Oh... I thought you were Corraline Bell .. you look just like her," Oliver said. George sighed and rolled his eyes. For a fleeting second George thought maybe Oliver was alittle interested in a girl. But George knew Quidditch would always be Oliver's one true love. But Katie smiled anyways.  
  
"Corraline is my sister," Katie said, sort of rolling her eyes a bit. George knew what she was feeling... being known as someone's little brother ... people always said he and Fred looked like on or another of their older brothers.  
  
Oliver looked down at his clip board and shuffled through the papers. "Beauty runs in the family..." George's jaw dropped, and he looked at Alicia who was nudging Katie who was blushing so deeply George was sure Katie was related to the Weasleys somehow and had enheirated the "blushing disease" as Fred and George liked to call it...  
  
Fred chose this moment to make a grand appearance and jump in a large puddle on the ground. Mud splattered everywhere. Angelina screamed.  
  
"Fred!!"  
  
"Don't hit me!" Fred recoiled. Angelina sighed loudly and George snickered. Fred was a genius.  
  
"Lets just get on with this, shall we?" Angelina's shoe was tapping in the mud making a funny squelching noise.  
  
"Let's," Alicia agreed.  
  
"Alright, as I was saying... this team is nearly perfect. Gryffindor has never known a better team," Oliver wasn't looking at any of them, rather at the ground and George knew Oliver was dissappointed in his team. 'Well then don't be captain' George thought disdainfully. "All we're missing is chaser," George noticed Oliver glance at Katie. "And a seeker." George wondered where their old seeker was now since last year had been his last at Hogwarts. And then there was last year's seeker, who had quit owing to the fact that he was now a strict prefect... "We'll be having tryouts later but for now, since season hasn't started," Oliver said. Several 'tuhs' of agreement were heard, "We'll just be practicing with the team. Although... we DO need another chaser right now..." Oliver was looking very intently at Katie, and for some reason George found he didn't like it.  
  
"Yeah, Katie! Just do it today, can't hurt can it?" Alicia asked, hugging Katie around the shoulders. Katie looked at every simling face and shrugged.  
  
"Sure."  
  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Omgosh, this was the worst chapter I've ever writen about anything in my life. Aaaaah! It was horrible!! Maybe I'm out love right now cause all this bad stuff is happening right now and 3 people are leaving my life. 2 really good friends (one is already gone to prep school in New Jersey) and Lauren might move to Texas (what is what THAT!? Both of you!?) and Mark is leaving... Mark is my Youth Leader ... wow, I can't even tell you about Mark. There's no words to describe him. He's an amazing Christian and an amazing friend. An amazing person all together. And now he's going away to college 


	4. Pillows, Predators, and Prey

Sorry about grammatical errors... we all make mistakes.  
  
disclaimer- I don't own any of these characters, bladeebla! I promise I'll return them to the lovely JK Rowling when I'm finished playing with them!  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~ ~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*  
  
It was one week later and the weather was certainly cold this year. Sniffling noses and tiny coughs echoed around any quiet room. And it wasn't just cold outside... it was windy. Windy and chilly, making your eyes water slightly. Although, George always found a relaxing sensation in breathing cold air and seeing his own breath dissappear in the breeze, being outside wasn't alwayshis favorite time of day. But now the boys were inside on this Saturday morning, too lazy to do anything...  
  
"Do you know how freaking bored I am!?" Lee lay on a cushy red sofa in the Gryffindor Common room. A few other small groups of people were hanging out in the Common Room, doing homework or what not...  
  
"Not as bored as I am! Look at me! I'm doing homework!" Fred exclaimed as he sat on the floor infront of a low coffee table. George was propped up on his elbows, only half listening.  
  
"George?" Fred poked his brother with his foot.  
  
"Yes?" George looked up at his brother. Fred smiled.  
  
Just at that moment the girls entered the Common Room.  
  
"Hello," Alicia, Katie, and Angelina all greeted the boys. They giggled as they realized they had all said the same thing.  
  
"Hehehe," Fred mocked them.  
  
"Oh shut up," Angelina rolled her eyes as she took off her sweater.  
  
"You shut up!"  
  
"Good come back," Angelina threw her sweatshirt at Fred and sat down with Katie on the other sofa opposite of Lee's.  
  
"Geranamo!" George heard Alicia exclaim and suddenly he felt the full force of a body ontop of him. Alicia had tackled him and was now attempting to tickle him. The other people in the room were all watching now, some laughing, some rolling their eyes.  
  
"Dog pile!" George barely heard Fred yell, and George suddenly got the breath knocked out of him.  
  
"Oi! Get off!" George was trying to push them off but before you can say "Hormones!" Katie, Angelina, and Lee had also jumped on the dog pile. Somehow in the midst of it all, George had escaped and in retaliation, jumped on all of them.  
  
"Oof!" they all grunted. George smiled in the name of sweet revenge and come first year girls giggled.  
  
"Ow... why do I even bother wearing a bra?!" Angelina asked.  
  
"I don't know ... it's not like you actually need one," Fred teased her.  
  
"Shut up!" Angelina tried to smack Fred but ended up bopping George on his red head.  
  
"Hey! I didn't do it!" George rubbed the place where she had hit him.  
  
"Oops."  
  
"Ya know, I was thinking the other day that we need to figure out a way that you guys tell George and I apart," Fred began.  
  
"Thats nice.. can we continue this conversation someplace else? Perhaps where I'm not squished under the poundage of my friends," Katie Bell's muffled voice came from somewhere under Lee.  
  
"That ... is a good idea." Lee said, and they all one by one got up.  
  
"Whew, it was hot in there," Alicia said, also removing her sweater.  
  
"Because of me... we all know how sexy I am." George was about to say, but Fred beat him too it. They exchanged looks and smiled..  
  
Angelina raised her hand. "I beg to disagree!" she said.  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
"You shut up!"  
  
"You shut up!"  
  
"No you!"  
  
"You!"  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
"No, you shut up!"  
  
"You shut up!"  
  
"You like me."  
  
"Do not!"  
  
"Admit it, Angie! Ya love me!"  
  
"Not like that! Shut up!"  
  
"You shut up!"  
  
All the while during this argument, George had motioned for Lee, Katie, and Alicia to join him in pelting Fred and Angelina with pillows. The look of surprise on their faces was so beautiful.  
  
"Both of you shut up," said George, smiling mischieviously. Angelina and Fred responded by each grabbing a pillow and weilding it around like light sabers. George looked around wildly for a hiding place and threw himself to the ground. Laughter and cries of excitement echoed around the room as George army-crawled towards the couch. He'd only arrived when Alicia fell from the heavens (More like the back of the couch) and landed right infront of George.  
  
"Wow, you're out to get me today!" George said, sitting up dusting himself off a bit.  
  
"That I am," she agreed hurridly. "What now!?" she asked, peeking over the couch, and immediatly ducking. The other people in the room were all watching now, some looking like they wanted to leave... but George fed off of attention.  
  
"Um... make a run for it?" George asked, motioning towards the exit.  
  
"Aha! Gotcha!"Fred was looking behind the couch. George immediatly got into a duck and cover position while his brother whacked him with the pillow. But Fred wasn't paying much attention and the next thing he knew, Alicia was whacking him over the head with a pillow of her own.  
  
"Ow!"  
  
"What in Godric's name is going on here!?" came a very stern voice. Everyone froze in mid-whack. Alicia about to hit Fred again, Fred sheilding his face, George crawling away, Angelina trying to retrieve a pillow from Lee, who was being tickled by Katie. And there stood Percy with his hands on his hips. Everyone in the room was watching, acouple stiffling giggles.  
  
"Just a little pillow fight," George stood up quickly and dusted himself off.  
  
"Just a little pillow fight?! Just a little pillow fight.. ha! Twenty points from Gryffindor! Next time it'll be 50!" Percy eyed them all with suspision and stalked off and up the boy's staircase.  
  
"Stupid prick," Alicia said, whacking Fred in the face again.  
  
"Oww! What did I do!?"  
  
"Nothing, I was just taking out my anger on you." Alicia responded. George laughed.  
  
"There is absolutly nothing to do," Lee said, flopping down in the couch like before.  
  
"What about Hide and Seek," Katie suggested. They all snorted.  
  
"Katie, we're big kids now," Fred said in a very motherly voice.  
  
"I know, but honestly... it could be fun! Running around Hogwarts..." said Katie. Fred and George both exchanged glances.  
  
"What about teams?" George asked.  
  
"What?"  
  
"What if we were all on teams... like, 3 teams..." George explained.  
  
"Sounds fun!" said Angelina. And soon they had their rules planned out.  
  
"No hiding in bathrooms," Katie said, eyeing the boys.  
  
"And no teacher's lounges," Alicia said.  
  
"No going outside unless it's a hallway," Angelina added.  
  
"No Biting," George said, grinning.  
  
"And you can only go on the first 3 floors..." Katie said. The boys groaned.  
  
"Why!?"  
  
"Because it would take forever to find you! Alright, it's... Ten AM now... if you're not found before lunch, just go there and we'll meet up," Alicia said.  
  
Boys against girls... it was perfect.  
  
"Wait, what happens when we find you?" George said.  
  
"IF you find us," Katie emphasized the if and George smiled. "Well, you first have to catch us," Katie said, "and then we'll have a prison of some sort... alright, us girls are going to leave and get a head start... guys tag girls in this round.... ready girls? ... Go." and the girls quickly ran for the exit. George and Fred waited till they were entirely gone and then raced towards the boy's dormitory.  
  
"What are you doing?!" a surprised Lee asked, following them closely.  
  
"Lee, I think it's time we introduced you to a friend of ours..." Fred said as they quickly made their way up the stairs.  
  
"Four friends, actually..."  
  
"Four very good friends..."  
  
"And they're... where?" Lee asked as they stepped into their dorm.  
  
"Lee, you must promise never to tell a soul about this.."  
  
"Or we'll castrate you."  
  
"Personally."  
  
"Fair enough," Lee said. Fred and George smiled at him. George felt like he was Santa Clause at Christmas as he slunk over towards his bedside table.  
  
"Lee," George pulled the map out of a drawer and handed it to Fred.  
  
Fred unrolled the map, "We would like you to meet."  
  
"The Marauders," both Fred and George said this last sentence together. Lee looked at them both as though he'd only first seen that they were twins for the first time.  
  
"Uh-huh... what the hell is that?"  
  
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Once Fred and George had properly introduced the Marauder's Map to Lee, they were well on their way to winning the first round of this silly game that Katie had announced. The boys themselves were already breaking the rules by being in the boy's bathroom.  
  
"I'll take Angelina," Fred said, pointing to her dot which was on an outdoor balacony off the second floor.  
  
"I got Katie," Lee said, smiling at her dot. Lee had been smiling since the time Fred and George had fully explained the Marauder's Map, even though he was mad that they hadn't told him these past 2 years.  
  
"And I will take Alicia," George told them. Her dot was walking around the library aimlessly, stopping every so often. Mrs. Norris, the evil demon, was also in the Library... he'd have to stay out of her suspision..  
  
"Alright, break! Prison is the Great Hall," Fred said, taking the map and rolling it up. George followed him and Lee out of the bathroom.  
  
"Good luck!" he said, going the opposite way they were.  
  
"Don't need it!" Lee yelled and he was gone. George smiled and began running the path towards the Library. By the time he got there, his breath was rather short and he was at a slow jog.  
  
"Need ... to run... more often..." George panted to himself, leaning on the door for support. George stood for a few minutes, catching his breath...  
  
Once inside the Library, George smiled... Madam Pince wasn't at her her desk at all... meaning she wouldn't even know he was here, rounded off eequalling there would be no suspision at all. George crept over to the first desk and listened hard. No sound, except his own shallow breath. The library was deffinetly one of the strangest places at Hogwarts. So quiet. Too quiet, as far as George was concerened. And there was too much learning going on. Too much reading... though lately George had learned that learning wasn't all that bad...  
  
After a few minutes of sneaking around, George realized something. There was no one at the tables, no one at the shelves, looking for a book... no one writing reading, learning, thinking... though there was deffinitely someone hiding... George could feel it. George listened to the sound of his shoes squeaking as he crept down one isle towards a spiral stair case.  
  
Squeak squeak squeak...  
  
George's shoes made him want to laugh... he didn't even KNOW his shoes squeaked. At the top of the staircase, George ducked beneath the length of the railing and into a shadow. He could see almost everything up here, atleast on this side of the library. There was still another floor of books above him, and then there was the restrcted section.  
  
"Where are you?" George sang quietly, watching for signs of movement in the isles below. Nothing. He let out a sigh and leaned against the wall.  
  
Maybe he should make his presense known...? Madam Pince wasn't even in the room... where was everyone?  
  
There was a sudden scurrying sound somewhere in the library. George couldn't even tell where it was from, but there was a faint squeak squeak of shoes. Ha! But where was it coming from??  
  
George slid to the staircase exsisting on this level and quietly as possible climbed it. This was the top level in the whole library. It was small section above the rest of the library with red tinted windows. You could see either side of the Library from here. But George ran the risk of not getting down the stairs in time to catch Alicia if she decided to run towards the exit.  
  
George stood in the shadow next to the red tinted window. It cast an eerie pink glaze on the floor.  
  
"Too quiet," George whispered to himself. George wondered if Alicia was even in the Library any more, and if he was wasting his time being so secretive.  
  
He decided he was having fun anyways, and looked out over the other side of the Library, just in time to see a small splash of movement. George grinned.  
  
"Gotcha!" George whispered and he tumbled towards the stairs.  
  
Down down down, not caring if he was quiet, George bounded the stairs in less than 20 seconds. He rolled into the shadows of the first floor and step by step crept towars the fiction section. He paused to listen and only heard silence.  
  
"Where are you?" whispered as quiet as possible. No movement, no sounds... no nothing...  
  
Running the length of the isle towards where he saw the movement, George stopped at the end of the shelf and pressed himself against the dusty books. He peeked around the corner and smiled brightly. There she was, acouple bookshalves away, rear-end towards him. Alicia was peeking around another shelf, unaware of the fact that the predator had found his prey.  
  
Alicia danced alittle to the sound of her fingers drumming on the shelf. George could hardly keep himself from laughing. He looked down for a moment, to stiffle himself from laughing, and looked up agian. And in those few seconds she was gone. George raised an eyebrow and took big steps to where she was standing before, peeking around her corner. Alicia was quickly making her way down that isle. George watched her bum for acouple seconds and decided she had a nice figure. She must have felt someone watching her because acouple seconds later, she slowed down and looked over her shoulder. But by that time, George had already dissappeared behind the shelf again. George closed his eyes, hoped she wasn't looking and bounded to the very end wall at the end of the book cases. He ran to catch up with where she would be acouple isles over.  
  
"Where are you?" George heard Alicia say. George's heart raced. Alicia wasn't very good at keeping silent, that as for sure. George's shoes squeaked again as he ran down the centre isle. Almost there... George looked around the corner and saw her standing there, starring up at the second floor. Seemed she knew he was up there before. George smiled and jumped into her isle, making his presense known. She spun around, saw him, screamed.  
  
"Hunting over, time for the chase..." George said after she began running. He followed the sound of her shoes hitting the cobble floor. Weaving in and out of bookshelves, and nearly catching her twice, George wondered if this was what love was like. Manuvering your way to your prey, trying tricks and charming deeds, surprising her at every corner and never catching her... it seemed like a logical analyses. George let his senses flow and veered to the left, and into a seperate isle from her's. He listened intently as her footsteps slowed down.  
  
"What?" Alicia breathed, obviously wondering where he was and why she wasn't being chased.. George peered through a space between two books only to find Alicia spinning around like a slow dradle. George smiled and followed as she walked down the row.  
  
He let her walk a bit ahead and into a large open space with the Hogwarts emblem carved into the stone floor. Above her was the second and thir floor, and this space was relatively dark. George smiled as she tried to hide in the shadows. George knew that game all too well. Retracing his steps, George again sped towards the far wall. Shadows could be your friend and you enemy, George thought as he himself hid in the shadow. He felt like a cat, stalking towards her. Teen feet away, she could still run... Five feet away could hear her breathing in suspense ... three feet away, she was so tantalizingly close... one foot away.  
  
George grabbed her from behind and laughed as she screamed and squirmed at the same time.  
  
"I win," George said. She squirmed out of his grasp and turned around to hit him on the arm.  
  
"You scarred me!" she accused him.  
  
"Yes I did. It's called 'element of surprise'," George told her like she didn't already know. Alicia rolled her eyes but still smiled.  
  
"Well that was fun," she said, still breathing pretty hard.  
  
"That it was."  
  
~*~*~~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~ *~*~~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~ Oh wow, I had a good time writing this. I know it was a wee bit repetative but I wanted to build suspense... I hope you enjoyed it.. and the pillow fight was fun to write too!! Thanks for all the reviews, my faith little minions! I wouldn't keep writing if it weren't for you... I love you all!!!!!! ~*Crystal*~ ps- I know George's thoughts in love are alittle advanced... but what can I say? That's how I think, so bla! 


	5. The Challenge

George Weasley climbed the stairs around and around and around and around. The spiraling stairs seemed to go on forever and yet George kept going. Something nagged at the back of his mind that he'd never seen this part of the castle before, but it didn't really matter. The spiral staircase finally came to an end, only to become a large rotting wooden door. Light streamed in through the cracks in the door, illuminating the darkness which engulfed him. A scream and a yelp, George suddenly burst through the door, only to come face to face with You-Know-Who himself. Or atleast... he knew it was You-Know-Who... he couldn't actually see his face, but the presense was correct. And then he saw them. Fred, Alicia, Angelina, Katie, Lee, Ron... all of them... even Harry Potter.. all manacled to the far wall. All unconsious... Before George knew what was happening, someone had grabbed him and thrown him out of a window... he fell down down down down down, the ground rising toward him. The sensation was almost magical and then..  
  
George jolted into his bed. His eyes were closed and sweat trickled into his eyes. A dream... only a dream. Sleep was still upon him like a heavy blanket, and George could hardly tell what was dream or not. Not sure wether or not he wanted to remember the dream, George sighed deeply. The Dark Lord had been in his dream-- and not for the first time. But George pushed it aside. He knew it happened to both Fred and Lee all the time. It probably happened to alot of witches and wizards. But what an odd dream... He tried to remember what Voldemort's face looked like, only half way remembering he couldn't see it at all in the dream. Dreams were odd, George finally concluded and got up for a fresh Monday start.  
  
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"Goodmorning!" George said along with his brother to all the Gryffindors in the Great Hall. They all looked up and smiled cheerfully, George wanting to catch Alicia's eye. Two days ago they had played Hide and Seek in the castle... and two days ago was the last time George had had a real conversation with Alicia Spinnet.  
  
"I have a question," Angelina began. George looked up at her, along with Fred. "You two have been causing hardly any problems this year... what happened to the Fred and George we used to know?"  
  
Fred and George glanced at eachother.  
  
"We..--"  
  
" --I..."  
  
"Umm..." they said together. The rest of the group laughed as though they had planned this but George knew that neither he nor Fred knew the answer... they DID seem to wreak less havoc than that of the two previous years.  
  
"We're working on it..." Fred finally answered. George nodded in agreement. The rest in the group suddenly looked a bit worried. George read their faces and knew they were becoming a wee bit scarred. This, in a way, reassured George. They were still afraid of the twin's antics, and with them waiting to see what the boys would do to cause mayhem, the suspence was building.  
  
George had just started eating his bowl of cereal when there was a sweeping sound from above. Every morning .. every morning. Having seen the mail arrive enough times to know what was going on, George didn't even look up. That is until there was a commotion from alittle ways down. George watched as his little brother, Ron, and Harry Potter stood facing a short, blonde, pointy faced Slytherin first-year. Professor McGonagall was there in a flash and the Slytherin boy gave something to that little Longbottom kid.  
  
"Ha... Slytherins..." George muttered.  
  
"Don't First-Years have their first flying lessons today?" Lee asked after using his sleeve to wipe the remaining pumpkin juice off his face. George's eyebrows raised.  
  
"Yeeaah!" George said along with Fred.  
  
"Remember our first flying lesson?" Fred addressed the group.  
  
"Well duh... it was only acouple years ago.." Alicia reminded them, buttering her toast.  
  
"I hate those school brooms.. they vibrate if you fly too high.." Fred scowled.  
  
"And mine kept flying to the left.. good thing we have our own brooms," George smiled, remembering when last Christmas when they each got new Clean Sweep Fives... ah the wonder of it..  
  
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"And soooo... because the English hated Joan of Arc, she was condemned as a witch (yeah right!) and a heretic, and burned at the stake" George read off his paper, calmly as you please. If he had looked up, he would only be more inspired to make his audience shudder. "And 500 years after her death, she was declared a saint... little late for all that, eh?" George chuckled. Others did not. They simply blinked several times.  
  
"Thankyou Weasley and Spinnet," Professor Magness, the only person besides himself not the wee bit faltered. "Lovely... and who's next? Ah... Diggory and Carter-- I believe you were assigned the report 'The Renaissance and Exploration?'"  
  
George hardly pait attention to Diggory's oral report. He was too busy thanking Alicia athousand times for doing his half of the oral report.  
  
"Thankyou!" George said. She smiled. "Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!" George repeated time and time again as he wrote a big "THANKYOU!" on a bit of parchment. "And did I mention 'THANKYOU!'" he asked, shoving the thankyou notice in her face.  
  
"Oh stop," Alicia pretended to be embarrassed. George grinned and looked up at Professor McGonagall, who was eying him like a hawk.  
  
"Shhh... I'm trying to listen," George said out of the corner of his mouth.  
  
"Me?!" Alicia hissed, trying to be as quiet as she could. "You're the one who's talking."  
  
"May I please remind you.." came the Professor's voice. George watched her look around the room, avoiding *his* eye contact, "To please remain silent while others are talking?" George could feel her eyes on him. He sent her an appologetic smile as Diggory started talking again.  
  
George pretended to listen intently but got caught in Diggory's words, much to his dismay... History really was quite interesting sometimes... unless of course, if it had something to do with boring Wizard's Conventions that he could care less about. And the Renaissance really was rather entertaining.. from a muggle point of view anyways.  
  
Diggory had just started on the "Perfect Painter," Raphael, when Alicia poked him in the arm.  
  
"What?" George turned his head sideways to look at her. She pressed a folded up sheet of paper into his hand.  
  
George took the paper and unfolded it.  
  
George--  
  
This is boring. --Alicia  
  
It was a simple note, and not the first one he'd got from a girl... but it WAS the first one he'd gotten from the girl he liked. George took out his special red bottle of ink and his quill, and wrote:  
  
Alicia--  
  
I know.  
  
--George  
  
He gave the note back to Alicia and watched her as she read it. She rolled her eyes, wrote something, and gave the note back to him. It read:  
  
~How about making trouble?~  
  
George grinned as he read this and turned to smile at Alicia. But she was turned away, looking at the ceiling innocently.  
  
~What do you have in mind?~  
  
George write back.  
  
~I don't know! You're the criminal master mind here...~  
  
George had to admit she was right. He thought for a moment, biting his lip. He pulled his wand out of his pocket, aim it ever so carefully and murmured, "Flandio."  
  
He watched, with a smile on his face, as Diggory's shoelaces tied themselves together. No one seemed to notice, except Alicia, who giggled.  
  
"And that concludes," Diggory said. George elbowed Alicia in the ribs to stop giggling.  
  
"Thankyou Mr. Diggory -- up next I'd like to--"  
  
Professor Magness was cut off by a loud "Oof!" as Diggory tripped over his own shoes and fell flat on his face, papers flying everywhere. The whole class burst out in a laughing up roar and George even caught Professor Magness trying her hardest not to smile as she ran over to help her student.  
  
Alicia was laughing so hard she had to use George's shoulder as a support. They both laughed even harder when Alicia snorted.  
  
"Settle down, settle down.." Professor Magness said, helping Diggory up to his feet after they had gtten the shoes untied. "Now obviously this is some sort of practical joke... and it was very clever indeed," Professor Magness kept a stiff look, but her voice was that of amusment. "But I must ask that this not happen again..." and suddenly the bell rang.  
  
"You... are a genius," Alicia said, packing her books.  
  
"Ah, but you came up with the idea," George said, patting her on the back as they waited in the line of people leaving the room.  
  
"It was, wasn't it.."Alicia trailed off, obviously proud of herself. George smiled and hoped he would remember this moment for awhile....  
  
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It was four o'clock when Fred and George were innocently making their way from the kitchens. Fred contently and slowly devoured a brownie as George read the map to make sure no one was coming.  
  
"You just had to have more brownies, didn't you?"  
  
"Wha?" Fred's mouth was over flowing in brownie crumbs.  
  
"You heard me."  
  
Fred struggled to swallow and wiped his mouth before fighitng back, "Excuse me Mr. I have ten cookies in EACH pocket of my cloak."  
  
"Fred--Oliver's coming."  
  
"Yeah right, you just want--"  
  
"Hello, Oliver!"  
  
George grinned as he folded up the map, happy for once the he had gotten the better of Fred.  
  
"Fred! George!! You won't BELIEVE who our new seeker fot his year is!" Oliver was practically jumping up and down. He looked like he had to pee really bad too.  
  
"Oooh! Lee Jordan?" Fred guessed. George stiffled a laugh. Lee couldn't even find his own socks in the morning, least of all find a little gold ball.  
  
"Nono... it's McGonagall!" George proclaimed.  
  
"Dumbledore!"  
  
"Mrs. Norris!!"  
  
"Oh! It's that Longbottom kid, isn't it?!"  
  
Oliver was grinning from ear to ear but whether it was because of their jokes or who it was... neither of them knew. He kept trying to get the actual fact it, but it just wasn't happening. "No! It's--"  
  
"Harry Potter!" Fred meant it as a joke and George laughed with him.  
  
"I thought you'd never say it."  
  
Fred and George stopped laughing and gave Oliver equally discombobulated looks. Oliver nodded in excitment, his grin bigger than ever.  
  
"Harry Potter?" George asked. Fred was still contimplating.  
  
"Yep."  
  
"As in the little skinny kid with the glasses and the scar and the messed up hair?" Fred asked.  
  
"He defeated the Dark Lord..." Oliver added in.  
  
"Yeah, him!"  
  
"Yeah... him." Oliver was nodding frantically. He looked as though he were talking about the girl he liked--which in a way he was seeing as he loved Quidditch so much.  
  
"He can't play!" Fred proclaimed. "He's a first year."  
  
"McGonagall is making an exception.. and he's perfect for the role."  
  
"What, skinny little Potter on one of those school brooms?" Fred asked. "Yes, that'll win us the cup."  
  
George elbowed Fred in the ribs.  
  
"The REASON I've told you all first... well, I planned on it but the girls wouldn't tell me where you were until I told them what was going on... but anyways, the reason I WANTED to tell you first is that our team will be a complete set if we get Katie to play."  
  
Fred and George glanced at eachother.  
  
"And since nothing the girls have said and nothing I've said to her has seemed to work, I figured why not get you two to try to convince her to be on the team."  
  
"Ah, my dearest Oliver... we don't try--"  
  
"--We do, or do not. There is no try."  
  
"I don't know, Weasleys. None of the girls could."  
  
"Oliver, you insult us!"  
  
Fred and George put their arms around the tall 5th year's shoulders.  
  
"This'll be a piece of cake."  
  
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"Katie, Katie, Katie, Katie, Kaaaaaatiiiiieee!!!" Fred and George sang, following Katie Bell at a safe distance through the halls.  
  
"What bloody part of 'NO' don't you understand!?" Katie spun around on the spot and through her hands up in exasperation.  
  
"N!" Fred said immediatly.  
  
"O!" George chimed in.  
  
Katie smade a squeaky-annoyed sortof sound that reminded George of Ginny when she was upset and spun back around to go to their next class.  
  
"Playing hard to get, eh?" Fred mumbled under his breath, taking the same route to Potions.  
  
"I don't get it! What's wrong with Quidditch?" George added before running to catch up with Fred.  
  
"So, brother of mine, got anymore clever ideas to get Katie to be on the team?" Fred asked as they jumped down a small flight of steps.  
  
"Well, Frederick," George started, "We've tried begging, pleading, annoying... I don't think there's anything else that we can do that we're actually good at."  
  
"What, you mean like having an actual conversation with her?" Fred asked. Fred and George exchanged disgusted looks and shook their heads.  
  
"Naaah.."  
  
"Problem is, we told Wood we could handle this-- that it would be easy," George said as they came upon the door into Potions.  
  
"Well I'm certainly not giving up. She's a great flier! You saw her out there .. and it was raining too! She'd make an excelent addition to our team."  
  
"And honestly, what better three girls to be Chasers? Angelina, Alicia, and Katie?? They're already friends."  
  
"This is scaring me--" Fred suddenly cut in.  
  
"What's that?" asked George.  
  
"We're actually making sense."  
  
Fred and George put their stuff down and went toget their ingredients. George opened his mouth to say, "please!" again to Katie as she passed but she gave a firm, "NO!" before he even got to it.  
  
Twenty minutes later...  
  
"Puffer fish..."  
  
"Eyes of."  
  
"Asphedel.."  
  
"Powered."  
  
George used his wand to stir the Potion as Fred added the ingredients. It wasn't as though they enjoyed Potions-- quite the opposite-- but they needed the skills if they were to fullfill their life long dream ... that of creating a line of magical joke candies.  
  
"Thyme."  
  
"10 o'clock."  
  
"Fred..."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Please tell me we have thyme..."  
  
"I just said 10 o'clock!"  
  
"Not THE time! Aarg! Out of my way!" George pushed his chuckling brother out of the way and checked the cupboard.  
  
"Lacewing flies.." Fred said, throwing a pinch of thyme into the concoction.  
  
"How much?"  
  
"Umm... I dunno, ask Alicia."  
  
George spun around in his place and looked up at Alicia, who's couldron was behind their's.  
  
"Hello..." he said.  
  
She looked up at him, a bit of grey fog escaping her potion. She gave him a sweet little smile, which sent his stomach jolting. He opened his mouth to talk but nothing seemed to come out.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Could you be a dear and tell me how much Lacewing?" George asked politely, finally regaining his senses. Alicia's nose crinkled as though she were trying to remember.  
  
"A pinch?"  
  
"Oh you're no help.." George said, turning around and peering into his and Fred's potion. It was a mucky brownish color. He heard a "tuh" from behind him and wished secretly that he hadn't been so short with Alicia.  
  
"Professor Snape!" George called out.  
  
"Mr. Weasley..." Snape crossed the room to their couldron.  
  
"What color is it supposed to be?" George asked. Fred kicked him from under the table.  
  
"Mr. Weasley, we do not judge our concoctions by their color," Snape leered at the twin's concoction, stirring it a bit with the ladel. "Five points from Gryffindor. The potion should be judged by it's effectiveness, not by it's appearance" and Snape strode off.  
  
"Excusem'wa?! Last year he took points for our potion being light green instead of dark green!" Katie said from next to Fred. George glowered at Snape, as Fred  
  
"Two minutes till your concoction should be ready!" the Professor announced.  
  
"Aah!" Fred spun and started stirring while George ran his finger down the list.  
  
"Two Fluxweeds and a dash of knotgrass?! Oh, who came up with this measuring system!?" George sighed, adding the ingredients. Fred shrugged and stirred somemore. Their potion was slowly becoming a redish brown color.  
  
"Alicia, what color is your potion?" George spun and asked her another question. She glanced at him, and looked into her own couldron...  
  
"Blue..." she said, looking out over at the twin's. "What did you do?" she asked when she noticed the boys' potion was a mucky mud brown.  
  
"I don't know!"  
  
"Time ... " Snape announced, still writing something on the black board.  
  
"Are you sure we added everything??" Fred asked anxiously.  
  
"Yes!! I mean, we got the Avil Mushrooms, the Cateri Powder, two drops of stickless bark..." George still skimmed frantically down the list. Snape was approaching ever too quickly.  
  
"... is up." Snape finished his sentence as he stepped up to the Weasley's couldron. Fred and George both looked up at him with grim yet innocent looks on their faces. George, expecting Snape's face to look happy and smug, looked into the couldron when it wasn't. Quite the opposite, Snape was laddling out Fred and George's potion, which had magically turned blue. Fred's mouth fell agape.  
  
"As you can see class," Snape struggled to get the words out. "Mr. and ... Mr. Weasley seem to have conjured up a ... " he tried to find a word. "...decent Spartic Pushover potion."  
  
Fred's mouth was still agape when Snape hurried away to check other potions.  
  
"What happened?!" Fred asked, ladding out the potion and checking to make sure his eyes weren't deciving him. The rather thick liquid that oozed out and back into the couldron was indeed blue.  
  
"You're very welcome," Katie hissed at them.  
  
Fred and George both turned to look at her. Katie was bent over a piece of parchment, pretending she hadn't said a thing. George couldn't help but notice the way her straight blonde hair fell infront of her face like that. Katie really was pretty, and George could see why Lee liked her.  
  
"You... helped us?" the boys said together.  
  
Katie looked up and grinned. "I don't have any clue what it is you're talking about." She started putting her things away and went to the sink to wash her hands off. Fred and George waited till the bell had wrung before approaching her with yet another of their plans.  
  
"If you think this is going to stop us from trying to get you on the team-- " Fred started. George finished for him because Fred was looking a little disruffled.  
  
"Then you've got another thing coming... right, Fred?"  
  
Fred nodded in sheer agreement.  
  
"Look... Fred," Katie stopped and grabbed Fred by his shirt collar. "George," grasped George's shirt collar too. "I, Katie Elise Bell, do not want to play Quidditch."  
  
George looked at Fred and recognized his look of determination. This wasn't just a matter of getting Katie to play--oh, no--this was war.  
  
"I didn't know her middle name was Elise," George said. Fred huffed.  
  
(`'·.¸(`'·.¸*¤*¸.·'´)¸.·'´) «´¨`·. ¤* * ¤ .·´¨`» (¸.·'´(¸.·'´*¤*`'·.¸)`'·.¸)  
  
"Alright, alright... Fred! So she helped us with our potion, who cares?"  
  
George was sitting on his bed examining the thing that muggles called a Quackalator. He wondered why... it certainly didn't have any duck-like qualities.  
  
"It's not just that she helped us--though that bothers me--"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because!!"  
  
"Because Fred doesn't think he needs help from any body."  
  
Lee had come out of the bathroom and was toweling off his dreads. He gave Fred a smug grin though George wondered if maybe there was a sense of insult in the way he spoke. No... not insult... it was something else.  
  
"I do too! Help is wonderful! Just not ... from... girls."  
  
Ah. Now that Katie was brought into the picture indefinitely, George put 2 and 2 together. Lee didn't like how Fred didn't like help from Katie. George pulled a face. Fred really was very sexist sometimes... perhaps because all but one of his siblings were boys...  
  
"It's not like she messed up our potion, Fred."  
  
"We could have handled it... and if we hadn't--"  
  
"--Then we'd be making an even worse grade than we are now--Fred!! Just drop it, okay!"  
  
"Well it's not just the fact that she helped us.. it's that she tried to use it to ..."  
  
"Not play Quidditch," all three of the boys said it together.  
  
"Look, Fred. Katie doesn't want to play--who cares? We can always get a new--"  
  
"Noooo!! It's gotta be Katie."  
  
"Why is this bothering you so much? Since when did you become obsessed with Katie?" Lee was a little upset now. George looked from Fred's face to Lee's. Fred was grinning.  
  
"Oh, so you're the only one who can like her, eh?"  
  
"You like Angelina though."  
  
Fred scratched the back of his neck and nodded with a slight grin on his face. "Yeah, I do. I don't know, it's just that George and I--"  
  
"We made a promise to Wood--" George said.  
  
"--And we can't break that promise--" added Fred.  
  
"Because that would just be irresponsible," the twins said together. Lee starred for a few seconds and then a couple times.  
  
"I don't how you two do that but if you really want Katie to be on the team, you shoul dhave just come to me. I know how to do it."  
  
Fred and George exchanged glances.  
  
"Do you?"  
  
Lee nodded as mischievious grin spread on his face.  
  
(`'·.¸(`'·.¸*¤*¸.·'´)¸.·'´) «´¨`·. ¤* * ¤ .·´¨`» (¸.·'´(¸.·'´*¤*`'·.¸)`'·.¸)  
  
Fred and George strolled into the Great Hall the next morning in a rather late fashion. Just coming back from setting up a nice little prank of Percy the prat, they were fighting their hardest not to crack up laughing. George pursed his lips together and stiffled a laugh as he imagined what Percy's face would look like later, as they slunk to the Gryffindor table. They'd just sat down, trying their hardest not to catch eachother's eye (or Percy's, lest there be suspicion), when Katie showed up standing right in front of them. She looked nervous, kept glancing at Lee.  
  
"Goodmorning, Katie. Sleep well?" Fred asked, a overly large grin on his face. Katie rolled her eyes.  
  
"I think you know why I'm here," she said.  
  
Fred gave her a quizical look. George snorted. Oh yes, Fred was milking this for all it was worth. Obviously, Lee had somehow convinced Katie to join the team. George looked down the table at Lee, who was watching. George caught his eye and Lee smiled, giving thumbs up.  
  
"No, Katie... Katie Elise, why are you here?"  
  
"Fred, don't make me hit you."  
  
Fred chuckled.  
  
"You'll make a great addition to our team, Katie," Fred stood up, took Katie's hand in his own and shook it vigorously. Katie fought to get her hand back.  
  
"Yeah, welcome to the team."  
  
Katie sighed, still looking uncomfortable.  
  
(`'·.¸(`'·.¸*¤*¸.·'´)¸.·'´) «´¨`·. ¤* * ¤ .·´¨`» (¸.·'´(¸.·'´*¤*`'·.¸)`'·.¸)  
  
"How'do you think Lee did it?" George asked as he and Alicia made their way out of the Great Hall and towards Muggle Studies. They hadn't talked much in what seemed like forever, though as George calculated--it'd only been yesterday that Alicia had sent him a smile that made his heart flip flop. So beautiful, George thought, examining the way the morning light shone through the hall windows and reflected off her cheeks, giving her skin a soft glow.  
  
"Do what?" Alicia asked. She seemed thouroghly confused.  
  
"Get Katie on the team."  
  
Alicia grinned evilly. "Oh... that. I can't tell you."  
  
George stopped in the middle of the hallway for a few seconds. "What?" George called after Alicia as he strode to catch up with her.  
  
"I'm not allowed to share!" Alicia was giggling now, avoiding eye contact and wearing a goofy grin. So cute, George thought again. George suddenly remembered that Alicia was concealing information from him. Not fair!  
  
"Why can't you tell me?" George asked.  
  
"We told Katie we wouldn't."  
  
"We?"  
  
"Yes, we..."  
  
"Who is we?"  
  
By now they'd made it to their front row seats of Muggle Studies and Alicia had set her bag down next to their table. She looked up.  
  
"We is... me and... um... aah... heh."  
  
George gave her a look, prompting her.  
  
"Angelina." she finished her statement. Oh, no but Alicia was still looking at the ceiling.  
  
"Don't you dare lie to me Alicia, Fred and I wrote the book about lying."  
  
"I'm not lying!"  
  
"Someone else is involved--it's Lee, right?"  
  
Alicia suddenly burst into giggles again.  
  
George sighed and shook his head. "Girls," he mumbled as class started...  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
A/N: Aww, sorry I haven't written in a long time, you guys. I've been busy, I suppose... lots of junk goin' on. Whooooo... alright, alright... um... I'll probably edit this chapter sometime. I dunno how but oh well. :- P Take care!! 


	6. The Oddly Real Dream

Chapter 5 -- The Oddly Real Dream  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
George sat bored in History of Magic, his forehead on the table.  
  
"Blah, blah, blah," he heard Fred mumble next to him. George have a small smile before he dozed off into a dream.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Mom, there's something wrong with my hard drive." George heard a voice from behind a white door. The door was pushed open ever so slightly, and there appeared a mid sized blonde girl. 'Who is that?' George asked himself.  
  
"So your brother has told me."  
  
"Well. I mean. I lost." The girl was suddenly close to tears. She leaned against the door post and bit her lip, crossing her arms in front of her chest and blinking a whole lot.  
  
"Well. your brother says we could send it in to the company."  
  
"I know, but. I don't. I don't want to spend that kind of money."  
  
"Well. we could get you a new hard drive and you could start over from scratch."  
  
"But." tears spilt out of the girl's eyes and rolled down her cheeks. "But. I lost everything." the girl put her face in a hand and wept. "All my stories, all my music." she sniffled loudly and went on, "all my programs. mom!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
George suddenly woke with a start. There was professor Binns still babbling on about lord only knows what. 'What a weird dream.' George thought to himself.  
  
In case you couldn't figure it out on your own, my hard drive crashed last night and everything, including a nearly finished chapter 5 of this story, was lost. No. not lost, that's what I was told at first. I can recover everything (MAYBE) but it'll take time and money etc etc. I'm so sorry you guys, I feel like I've let you down. I'll post again ASAP. 


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